City of Port St Lucie issued the following announcement on Dec. 16
Trash cans routinely overflow during the holiday season with boxes, catalogs and newspapers stuffed with advertisements. The City of Port St. Lucie is challenging residents to recycle and help divert tons of valuable recycling items away from the landfill. On average, the City generates more than 25 percent more trash than normal between Thanksgiving and the new year. Much of the extra waste generated during the holiday season is easily recycled. This includes cardboard boxes, gift boxes, wrapping paper, cards, junk mail, magazines and catalogs.
From presents to parties, there is a wealth of material that can be recycled. Residents can help make the process more efficient by ensuring they are putting the correct items into the correct bins. While most items may be reusable materials, some items are not accepted. Here are 12 tips to recycle properly:
Gift wrapping materials
Do’s: Residents can recycle paper gift wrapping, tissue paper and greeting cards.
Don’ts: Bows, glitter, ribbons, cellophane and foil gift wrapping is not recyclable, especially those items with wire mesh.
Product packaging
Do’s: Gift boxes, wrapping paper and paper packaging can be recycled with their regular paper and cardboard recycling. Residents need to remove tape, ribbons and other decorations before tossing the items into their recycling container.
Don’ts: Air pillow packing materials, bubble mailing envelopes, Styrofoam and bubble wrap is household waste.
Decorations
Do’s: Pack up holiday decorations for reuse next year.
Don’t: Ornaments, garland, tinsel or strings of lights are considered household waste.
Christmas trees
Do’s: Recycle your Christmas tree and place it curbside with your yard waste. Make sure the tree is completely cleared of lights, tinsel, ornaments and tree stands.
Don’ts: Plastic bags are not recyclable. Don’t put your Christmas tree in a plastic bag. By putting your tree in a plastic bag, you are creating one extra step in the process of recycling. The tree gets mulched rather than disposed of at the landfill.
Going Green
Do’s: Empty and scrape out food or material from all bottles, jars, containers and cans before putting them in the recycling bin. If it’s not possible to remove all the food debris such as peanut butter, it’s better to throw it away in the trash rather than contaminating the recycling stream.
Don’ts: Loose, plastic grocery or department store bags or plastic film gets jammed in the recycle processing equipment and requires a different collection system. Most grocery chains provide collection bins for these plastic bags and wraps.
Holiday Cooking
Do’s: Foil baking cookware, pie plates and cookie sheets can be recycled. Rinse off small bits of food, like cookie crumbs and fruit or vegetable juice, before putting them in the bin.
Don’ts: Wax paper, butcher paper, milk, eggnog, juice cartons, etc., as well as biscuit dough tubes, are not recyclable because of a waxy coating on the paperboard.
Remember the Golden Rule of Recycling: When in Doubt, Throw it Out!
The City’s robust recycling program generates revenue for the Neighborhood Improvement and Community Engagement (NICE) program for neighborhood improvements.
Original source can be found here.
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